UW-Platteville to present ‘Deficit and Debt: Behind the Government Shutdown’ forum

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PLATTEVILLE, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Department of Social Sciences, Students for Peace and Justice, and College Republicans will present the “Deficit and Debt: Behind the Government Shutdown” forum on Nov. 13 in the Thomas B. Lundeen Lecture Hall, 103 Doudna Hall at 7 p.m.

The purpose of the forum is to open a dialogue about the problems of debt and gridlock that are plaguing the United States.

The forum will feature UW-Platteville faculty members Dr. Rosalyn Broussard, political science professor; Dr. Scott Nikolai, senior lecturer of political science; Dr. Brian Peckham, professor of economics; Dr. John Rink, professor of political science; and Dr. Shan Sappleton, assistant professor of political science.

They will discuss the economics of the budget deficit as well as the recent political gridlock that culminated in a 16-day, partial government shutdown and how it affected the country’s institutions.

“These topics are important because people are concerned about the direction of the country and the partisanship that exists in Congress,” said Rink. “It is important for people to be alerted to the dangers that exist to our political institutions and find out what they can do about it.”

Forum speakers will also address the following questions: How might America’s debt problem affect you? Is gridlock written into the bones of the American political system? What can we do to return to the budget surpluses of the 1990s? A discussion and question and answer period will follow.

Caitlin Thomson, a junior political science and business administration major at UW-Platteville and president of College Republicans, from Whitehall, Wis., will moderate the forum.